You are not going to believe this one. Here are the unadulterated facts, taken directly from the Order entered by the FINRA Hearing Officer (an Order, by the way, which FINRA elected not to publish on its website):
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I have spoken about FINRA possibly putting an end to the policy of pursuing cases where formal disciplinary action serves little to no regulatory purpose. That welcome paradigm shift may be upon us.
This year, FINRA, in essence, pronounced that its “broken windows” strategy of pursuing Enforcement cases over the smallest and most technical violations…
I apologize for not posting anything recently, but, sadly, I was embroiled in a two-week arbitration that occupied most of my recent attention. I am home, however, and back in the saddle. In the meantime, here’s a post from Blaine Doyle, author of the classiest post ever in this blog, something about ancient Greece. I…
Here is a really interesting post from Michael regarding those potentially uncomfortable moments when FINRA calls non-complaining customers. Because FINRA is not the government, it has no subpoena power over these people, and so needs them to cooperate voluntarily. The problem is that FINRA does an awful job of informing non-complaining customers that they are…
After spending the last few years ferociously denying that there was any constitutional issue with the manner in which SEC Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) were appointed to their position, this morning, the SEC announced that it had “ratified” the prior appointment of each of its ALJs – Murray, Foelak, Elliot, Grimes and Patil. You can …
Here is a post from Michael about a recent settlement involving the submission of false expense reports. The issue isn’t the misconduct, but, rather, the rather tepid sanctions imposed. Do I sense the pendulum starting to swing back? – Alan
It is no secret that FINRA’s Department of Enforcement is attempting to maintain a lower…
Bear with me here as I relate the tale of John Saad and his tortuous path through the FINRA Enforcement process and, ultimately, the court system. It is worth following me on this journey, as the upshot of the story is that FINRA, which is so quick to want to bar every respondent it sees,…
I am on the record, many times, with my belief that, at least in theory, FINRA should never lose any Enforcement cases it files. This is for the simple reason that if FINRA has any genuine doubts about its ability to prevail in front of a hearing panel, due to the quality of the evidence…
A little over a year ago, the SEC announced a stunning settlement with Merrill Lynch regarding its violation of SEC Rule 15c3-3, commonly known as the “Customer Protection Rule.” This is an important rule whose name gives away its purpose: it is designed to ensure that if a broker-dealer ever fails, customer assets can be…
This one belongs in the “truth is stranger than fiction” category. By now, you are probably familiar with the exploits of Dawn Bennett, former hostess of her radio show, “Financial Myth Busting.” She was the one who the SEC permanently barred last year after she elected not to appear at her administrative hearing (after her…
